Letters to the Editor
Letter to the Editor | PenMet must be transparent about plans for Madrona Links
I am responding to a letter penned on September 25 by PenMet Parks Board Member Billy Sehmel. Billy’s letter contained many factual errors that I feel compelled to address, but he was correct with respect to one thing: PenMet parks is technically not obligated to fund capital improvements to Madrona Links golf course, by the same token the Tyson Family is not obligated to make capital improvements to the course. The only capital improvements that are required to be made are the obligation of the current tenant, Matt Stutsman. Stutsman is required to fund capital improvements annually to the golf course at a rate of 1.5% of greens fees. This amounts to around $20,000 annually. A pittance that is not nearly adequate to improve a course that is nearly 50 years old.
PenMet parks purchased their land in 2008 for $2,000,000. That is not an investment in the course any more than my purchase of $1,000,000 is an investment in the course. PenMet parks is a not-for-profit entity that is funded by us, the public. They have taken over $900,000 from the course since 2008 and have invested nothing. They say they have set aside $1,000,000 for improvements to the course. Setting aside funds is NOT an investment in the property. These funds could easily be redirected to another project with a penstroke.
Sehmel is correct that I purchased, along with my partner and good friend Mark Owen, 14 acres of land currently being used as part of the golf course. We purchased this property from the Tyson family, whom I have known for nearly 30 years. It should be noted that, contrary to what PenMet parks has stated, they never contacted the Tyson Family with an offer to purchase their land. I love Madrona Links and have no desire to develop our land. In fact, we have tried for the past 9 months to get PenMet to work with us to partner and improve the course NOW.
Sehmel claims baselessly in his letter that I am tied to apartment complex REIT. I am a CPA and have had my offices in Gig Harbor since 1996. The last thing that I developed was film in my high school photography class. I’m not sure how trying to scare the community with claims like this are helpful in any way. Additionally, what does he or PenMet parks gain by impugning my reputation. I have only one desire, and that is to bring Madrona Links back to its former glory.
Sehmel is correct that I am not a golf professional and have not operated a golf course. That is why I have entered into an agreement with a local golf professional to operate and drive the capital improvements that Madrona Links needs NOW, not three, five or 15 years from now. Do any of the Board Members of PenMet parks have with operating a golf course.
I won’t allow PenMet to do to Madrona Links what they have done to the land at the former Peninsula Gardens. They purchased that property in 2010, and now 14 YEARS LATER they are asking for public input as to what to do with the land. For 14 years we have watched as PenMet parks allowed that property to deteriorate to the point that it is unfit for public use. A chain link fence was erected around the property. A former beautiful nursery turned into an eye sore.
Sehmel mentions in his report that golf came in second to last in a survey of Gig Harbor residents. Sehmel’s family procured renderings of a proposed pitch and putt course along with pickle ball courts and a dog park on Parks land a Madrona Links. They can use the 10-acre parcel at the former Peninsula gardens to put in more pickle ball courts and another dog park. If we lose Madrona Links golf course, we will never have an 18-hole public course in Gig Harbor again. That is a fact that Sehmel and his cohorts should contemplate.
Sehmel states in his letter that PenMet parks will put out an RFP to run Madrona Links after the leases expire in 2028. That RFP needs to be done now! There is no need to wait. The RFP process can take upwards of a year to conclude. If they wait until the lease expires, that would mean that the golf course would shut down during the RFP process. There would be no operator of the course. At that point, PenMet would start Madrona links down the same path that the forged with the Peninsula Gardens property. We can’t let that happen. Madrona Links golf course is a community gem and deserves to be treated like it.
Zack Rosenbloom
ZTM Holdings
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